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PrintOmar Ruiz and Ashley Jackson
Photo courtesy Tomorrow's Memories by Christi, Ltd.
Former Channel 4 reporters Omar Ruiz and Ashley Jackson exchanged vows Nov. 6, 2010, at Carmel Mission in northern California.
The couple met five years ago in Carmel when Jackson interviewed for a job at the TV station where Ruiz was working. He says he noticed her “great smile” that day, and two weeks later he found himself in his boss’s office—a place he says he never went “unless summoned”—asking if there would be any new staff members arriving soon. He was happy to hear Jackson was hired.
Jackson says relocating from Wyoming where she was living at the time was a huge adjustment, and Ruiz tried to make her feel welcome by inviting her to join him and friends for nights out after work. One evening, Ruiz told her none of his friends could make it, but the two still met for dinner and hit it off. “His friends did get ahold of him, but he just chose not to meet up with them. He snuck me out on our first date,” says the bride. The couple dated for a few months before Ruiz accepted a job in Columbus at Channel 4. Jackson eventually landed a position at the station, too.
Ruiz admits that after Jackson moved to town, the couple had ups and downs, which explains his appearance in Columbus Monthly’s “Single in the City” issue in 2008. (“We were on a break!” he jokes.) By July 2009, Jackson and Ruiz were together for good.
When his hometown baseball team, the Los Angeles Dodgers, made it to the playoffs in October that year, Ruiz booked a trip to L.A. But the getaway was about much more than just a baseball game: He bought a ring, too. Jackson wasn’t pleased when her boyfriend jetted off to L.A., but she didn’t say anything to him, instead saving “that phone call for my best friend,” she says, laughing. Ruiz took the ring on a Hocking Hills escape the next weekend that Jackson had planned and he proposed after a bike ride one afternoon. Last May, the pair moved back to California after Ruiz’s contract ended. (They’re both still pursuing TV jobs.)
On their wedding day, Jackson presented Ruiz with a gift of lapel pins printed with photos of his grandparents who had died. “It just shows what kind of person she is,” he says. Being close to his family again made their wedding day even more memorable, he adds.
“Given everything the two of us have gone through, to come out on the other side doing great, happy and in love is the best part. I got to marry my best friend. I’ve been waiting my whole life for this,” says the bride. Ruiz echoes her sentiments. “We’re best friends above everything else and we’ll have that to build on for the next 50 years.”
The couple resides in Playa del Rey, California.
